Day 10 - Disneyland

He Said:Disneyland! We had a pretty good start. Shannon got a little choked up again and we did the character breakfast which gives he kids a great chance to see a lot of the characters. We picked Toy Story's Astro Blasters as the first ride because all last trip Gillian wanted to go, we put her off until the last day, and then it was closed. It was the usual car on a track, but Ryan freaked out when he saw it, and I mean freaked. I think it was the sight of the tunnel. Screaming, kicking, struggling. I knew if I let him skip this one though, the tone would be set for the trip. The whole thing would be a wash. So I tried to convince him it would be fun, got him to go on with me, and he loved it. Everyone did. We went on it twice. I had the high score, but other people did pretty good too.
That was a recurrent theme for the first part of the day. Ryan freaking out, then enjoying the ride. Makes me nervous for Pirates and Haunted Mansion. We didn't do those today, and I'm worried he'll refuse too. Mara was about his age last time, and she never had this problem. It surprises me a bit.
The day was hot, yet somehow we managed to stay until 5. Then we did the pool hotel and bed. Gillian was still up when the fireworks were on, so Shannon and her went to the roof this time. You can see the fireworks from the window next to the sink, I watched about a minute, and that was it. G says they were different tonight.
The hotel is decent enough, and can't beat the location. It's closer to the gates than Disney's own hotel, I think. I'd feel better about the hotel if it didn't have the Marlboro smoking couple trying to have sex in he hot tub, but otherwise it's good. Room is decent and cools off quickly. The internet is basically unusable unless I wait until 11-12 at night.
She Said: The shop owners came out from their shops wearing stuffed Mickey Mouse glove to wave and give High Fours (four fingers) to everyone arriving at 8:00. Something about the commitment of everyone to make this place magical was moving to me. But when I think about it too much it's creepy. Ryan really loved the characters at breakfast. Very enthusiastic. When Brad told him to be careful of Captain Hook Ryan reminded Brad that it's not the real Captain Hook, so it's OK. My girls delighted in calling Captain Hook by his first name, James.
Astro Blaster was fun. It's fun to shoot targets on the characters' chest while you're sitting on yet another conveyor belt watching remarkably spectacular vignettes of the ride's theme. They should add laser guns to all the rides!
I caught one of the dancers in a stage production looking bored instead of ecstatic and it made me happy - ahhhh, reality. When he caught my eye he glued the smile back on his face. That's the kind of thing that would take some people out of the experience of Disney's fantasy world, but Brad's probably not going to read this anyway.